The 3rd International Cancer Control Congress: international collaboration in an era of cancer as a global concern.

摘要

In 2002, there were 10.9 million new cancer cases in the world; 6.7 million deaths were due to cancer. Cancer incidence (new cases) rises each year due to population growth and aging. Overall, five year survival rates vary from less than 15% to greater than 60% across nations. Although improvements in mortality from cancer are taking place, they do not offset the increase in incidence. Hence, each year, more people will develop cancer, more will die of cancer, and more will be survivors of cancer - the burden (personnel, community and socio-economic) will continue, inexorably, to increase. If the cancer issue is to be addressed, the interventions must be directed at the process of cancer, not solely to the disease. Thus, cancer control must address incidence through primordial and primary prevention, detection of curable, asymptomatic, early stage disease, effective treatment programs for established disease, and palliative, supportive and end-of-life care to meet the needs of those cured and those whose death requires dignity, symptom control and compassion. To be effective, cancer control plans must be directed to the entire population (the healthy, high-risk, ill, cured and dying), recognizing that disparities of access, circumstances, gender, ethnicity and social well-being exist in all populations